Report, summit on children's welfare highlight familiar problem

Published: 2007-05-25

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., hosted a national summit on child welfare, she shined a light on a problem that is all too familiar to officials of Catholic Charities USA. "The numbers are moving in the wrong direction," said Desmond Brown, director of health and welfare policy at Catholic Charities USA, about a new report released by the National Center for Children in Poverty to coincide with the summit. The report said 42 percent of U.S. children under the age of 6 -- roughly 10 million -- are vulnerable to poor health and substandard education, largely as a result of poverty and economic hardships. "We have gathered today to begin what will be a long-term conversation, and to signal our deep commitment to caring for our children and creating a prosperous future for them and for our entire nation," Pelosi said at the May 22 summit in Washington, attended by academic and policy leaders who spoke about the state of early childhood development in the U.S.

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